Exhibitions & EventsClasses

Thursday, March 21, 2013
|7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

The Thursday, March 21st lecture by Arjun Appadurai has been postponed.

Organized in conjunction with the DIA’s Shirin Neshat exhibition,GLOBAL IMAGINARIES│Individual Realities is a series of lectures that establishes a platform for artists and their communities to enter into a wider conversation about socially engaged art. The ‘imaginary’ is a sociological term which describes the unspoken understanding between individuals within a society who all agree to function within the same ethical, cultural and political frameworks. The ‘global imaginary’ is an idea that expands on this notion, describing the social networks emerging between people from all over the world, assisted by innovations in technology such as the internet. In this lecture series we turn to several prominent artists whose work focuses on the role of art within the social and political sphere and invite a socio-cultural anthropologist, a political activist and sociologist of culture to discuss the role of art in shaping the global imaginary. This program will explore the underlying notions that shape our expectations of society and consider art as a social medium to navigate the vicissitudes of our imagined narratives.

Arjun Appadurai is a prominent
contemporary social-cultural anthropologist as well as a prolific writer. In
his work, he discusses the significance of modernity as central to a new system
of global culture, and considers the roll of imagination as a social practice.
He believes that art is a powerful tool for social commentary, which may spur
political and cultural changes. This concept challenges us to negotiate our
place within this imagined community in consideration of our own personal
experiences as members of actual families and neighborhoods, with
real ethnic and cultural histories.

Dr. Appadurai will speak about
the relationships and tensions between the 'artistic imagination' and the
'social imagination' and consider how these might empower and inspire one
another, especially as sources for addressing the most difficult social dilemmas
of the era of globalization.

Appadurai is the Goddard
Professor of Media, Culture, and Communications at the NYU Steinhardt School of
Culture, Education, and Human Development.

Sponsored by Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Center for the Study of Citizen at Wayne State University.